Story-Related

Share

With voice distorted and face hidden, one of the Vatican whistle-blowers appeared on Italian Television saying the recent Vatican leaks are not about a power struggle but a code of silence perhaps surrounded by fear.

The Vatican mole claimed on private Italian Television channel La7 to be one of more than 20 people in the Vatican who have leaked sensitive material to news media in the last few weeks.

Extracts from the interview reveal the whistle-blower believes the Vatican is engulfed in intrigue, secrecy and a climate of intimidation.

“Maybe there is a kind of omerta to prevent the truth from surfacing. Not because of a power struggle but maybe because of fear,” he said.

The whistle-blower claims to have worked in the Secretariat of State, which is led by the apparently unpopular Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, whom some claim has fallen out of favour with the Holy Father and his supporters.

The whistle-blower said the Vatican is a place where “you can commit a murder and then disappear into the void” – a reference to a murky scandal in the Swiss Guard in 1998, when a young soldier shot dead the corps’ commander and wife before apparently committing suicide.

The leaks have embarrassed the Vatican in recent weeks, with claims of corruption and nepotism, questions over the transparency of the Vatican bank and unconfirmed reports of an assassination plot against the Pope within the next 12 months.

The whistle-blower dismissed suggestions that documents were being leaked in exchange for money.

“Something like that is inconceivable for me. That would mean betraying what we believe in,” he said.

Opinion

Why are we so fascinated with any historical artifact — relics, as some call them — associated with Jesus? Even the most suspect claim of a “lost” gospel or an “explosive” archaeological find that purports to shed light on the man from Galilee can generate a media frenzy, and gives believers — or skeptics — Read more

The Pope on his return flight from the Philippines to Italy suggested that when western help to third world countries is only available if they accept western ideas into a culture as “ideological colonization”. Gender ideologies from the wealthy Western world are being imposed on developing nations by tying them to foreign aid and education, Read more

Features

I saw it all in my newsfeed this week: a former roommate gave birth (to twins!), a friend raised money to rebuild his home after a fire, a grad school professor started chemotherapy for lymphoma and his digital support group, “#downwithlumpy,” went viral. I liked, donated, tweeted, commented and prayed over those updates. I witnessed Read more

It was feared he would become a sort of shadow pope. Instead he has opted to see out what remains of his life in the shadows. Two years after becoming the first leader of the Catholic Church to resign in seven centuries, Benedict XVI has melted away from public view, even if he remains a Read more